French trio pens deal for LNG-fueled dredger

Atlantic Port of Bordeaux, the EIG Dragages Ports and the Socarenam shipyard signed a €20 million ($24.4 million) contract for the construction of the water injection dredger running on LNG.

The newbuild dredger to be called L’Ostrea is planned to replace the grab hopper dredger La Maqueline in the summer of 2019, Dragages Ports said in a statement on Tuesday.

Atlantic Port of Bordeaux uses two dredgers to maintain the navigation channel and quaysides. The dredger Pierre Lefort was replaced in 2013 by the trailing suction hopper dredger Anita Conti, and in 2017 a decision was made to replace La Maqueline, a grab hopper dredger dating from 1984, by a water injection dredger, which like the Anita Conti will work on the navigation channel.

After a European call for tenders in 2017, the EIG Dragages Ports awarded the contract to Socarenam shipyard, based in Boulogne sur Mer. This will be the first dual-fuel newbuild vessel built in France, excluding LNG tankers, according to Dragages Ports.

With the dual-fuel engines, the dredger will be able to burn liquefied natural gas (LNG) and marine light diesel.